A wry comic romance between young refugees, Loving Glances is set in 1995 Belgrade-under siege and filled with displaced people. Ethnicity has become destiny. Adrift and alone, Labud carries his belongings in a plastic bag. His fiancée has gone to Chicago, but in his loneliness she is present, magically concrete. “Oh, why did you leave me?” he asks. “They shot from the hill and burned down our house,” she sweetly reminds him. For interim solace, he joins the Happy Millennium matchmaking service, where he meets Romana. Tentatively, across the deepening ethnic divide, the two grow closer, but in company with their emotional past. Images of absent family and friends critique, cajole, and prod the lovers apart. This quarrelsome troupe of many voices reveals the richness and variation that was Yugoslavia. The lovers must decide to live within ever-narrowing walls or take the risk of hope. Filmmaker Srdan Karanovic was twice forced to shift production when the Balkan war overtook his location, and Loving Glances is the reward for his perseverance. Shot entirely on location, featuring an evocative, melodious music score, his fairy tale gently reminds us that, even in the midst of destruction, optimism and joy abound.